9-10-16 A Few Frugal Things

– I sold a set of books online that I found in the trash when my neighbor moved out for $19

– I sold an exceptionally unusual flamingo sweater that I found at goodwill for $3.59 for $61

A Few Frugal Things-

– I love The NonConsumer Advocate Facebook group and they give me great ideas and inspiration all the time

– The semester has started and I am back to being a full time college professor which means I will no longer be paying $300 a month for health insurance

– I have had some good luck selling some items on eBay and it’s always nice to earn a little more money

– The new campus that I am working on gave me tons of school/office supplies which made me glad that I had refrained from buying any ahead of time. They also gave me a really nice polo shirt with the college logo that I will wear while teaching. I had actually been wanting to buy one.

– My new office mate brews coffee every day and is more than happy to share.

– I have also received several fun and free meals at back to school faculty events.

– I was able to purchase a few items I needed for work at Dollar Tree so none of them cost me much. I wanted to buy a couple of electric tea kettles for my new offices but I decided that I can heat up water in the microwave for now.

– We did a large, stock up shopping trip at ALDI so that we would have plenty of groceries while we were working.

– I don’t have a break at work this semester where I would be able to buy lunch. This is going to save me a lot of money because I will be forced to pack lunches instead of stopping at a drive through. We have also been doing well making dinners at home.

– We have gotten together with family members at our house and their houses where we make tons of food and have a great time but haven’t had to pay for restaurant meals.

– Went to lunch with a friend at a pizza place where they do $1 slices of pizza. She also gave me some textbooks to use for teaching and/or sell on eBay.

– My father is going to visit my sister and will be able to bring her the stuff that we have for her instead of paying to mail the items.

– My friend gave me a bunch of baby clothes for my sister’s baby so that she will have less to buy.

– B is going to attempt to fix the crack in the iPad I was given instead of paying over $100 to have it professionally fixed. My father is attempting to put new wheels on my rolling professor bag instead of throwing it out.

– We drink a lot of tea, coffee and water which is always a huge savings over buying drinks. We did buy some soda this week in case we needed a caffeine boost at work because it is so much cheaper than buying it from a vending machine. B is lucky that his work provides a lot of drinks and snacks to employees for free.

– We really enjoy streaming TV and movies at home instead of paying for cable or to go to the theatres.

– I bought 3 round trip plane tickets for us to go to my sister’s baby shower for $350.00. I did buy them from two different airlines and airports that had the best deals. We were lucky to find tickets for cheaper than the cost of driving. We won’t bring any bags other than a free personal item bag each and we will bring our own food and drinks so we will save on those expenses as well.

Not So Frugal Things-

– I was too tired to pack up some eBay books I sold earlier in the week so I had to make a separate trip to the post office instead of combining trips. I also paid to mail some maternity shorts to my sister since instead of waiting for my father to bring them but I didn’t mind spending the money so she could use them sooner.

– Waiting one week to buy our plane tickets increased the price by about $75 which stinks but they were nonrefundable so I didn’t want to buy until we were sure.

Frugal Goals-

– I am so thankful to have a full time position instead of a contract position and I want to enjoy the steady paycheck and health insurance and extra financial security. I want to enjoy being able to afford to travel more and do some activities that have been put off because of cost. I also want to ramp up my savings so that we can be prepared to buy a house in the next few years.

– Get a library membership so that I have access to more free kindle books and movies.